Stem Cell Transplants and Tough-to-Treat Crohn’s

Researchers, who were previously hopeful about stem cells for treating Crohn’s disease, report that this treatment did not help those with resistant cases of Crohn’s disease.

Stem cell transplants seem no better than conventional therapy for Crohn’s disease that hasn’t responded to other treatments, a new study finds.

The European study also found that for patients who cannot undergo surgery for the condition, stem cell transplants resulted in serious side effects, including infections.

“In this group of the most resistant cases of Crohn’s disease, stem cell transplant was an effective treatment, but it is not a miracle cure that could be applied to anyone with Crohn’s disease, because it only seems to work in a minority of patients and the treatment is challenging and hazardous,” said lead researcher Christopher Hawkey. He is a professor of gastroenterology at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, England.

For the study, Hawkey and colleagues randomly assigned 45 patients with Crohn’s disease to transplants with their own stem cells or to continued standard medical care. Patients were followed for one year.

Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the intestinal tract that produces symptoms such as persistent diarrhea, rectal bleeding and painful cramps, according to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. The condition can cause lifelong ill health, impaired quality of life and reduced lifespan.

Immunosuppressive drugs are the standard of care, but some patients do not respond to them or stop responding, Hawkey said.

Stem cell transplants represent an attempt to reset the immune system, which turns on itself in Crohn’s disease, Hawkey explained.

“The stem cell treatment involves wiping out the body’s immune system and replacing it with the patient’s own innocent stem cells, a sort of immunological spring clean,” he said.